Dusted With Flour

Dear Home Ec 101,

Crap girls. I can’t figure out which is better between self-rising and all-purpose.

Signed,

~Flummuxed by Flour 

Heather says:

Self-rising flour is nothing more than flour with a little salt and baking soda already included.  For every cup of flour mix in:

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Self-rising flour loses its potency with time and exposure to humidity.  It must be kept in an airtight container.  Do not use self-rising flour to make bread.

Personally I never bother with purchasing self-rising flour, I am of the opinion the occasional thirty-seconds saved isn’t worth the loss of pantry space.  I need to have baking soda and salt on hand for other things, anyhow.

Laundry Perplexion: Sourcing Mystery Spots

Dear Home Ec 101:

I don’t use softeners or softener sheets and every piece of clothing we own is being ruined by these grease stains. I have no idea what it is but I can only assume its from the dryer. And I know, with kids, stains are highly likely but even their brand spanking new clothes are coming out with these stains (as well as my clothes and the hubby’s) Any ideas? At this point, I’m ready to just buy a new dryer because by the time I pay for a service call, labor and parts, it costs the same (if not less to replace!!) Crazy!! Any ideas??

~Spittin’ Mad At These Spots

Heather says:

There are several places from which spots may spring.

Dark spots of grease may be caused by a problem within the washer itself. Occasionally the transmission will leak oil, creating spots on clothing.

• Light spots of grease may have several sources.
  • • There may be something, such as last week’s chapstick, in the dryer’s drum spreading grease to the clothing. To check, dampen a spot free towel or rag and dry. Once dry check for spots.
    • If the dryer is the culprit thoroughly clean the drum. If you have an electric dryer, it is safe to use a solvent, but those with a gas dryer should not take the risk and are stuck using good old non-flammable elbow grease. Sorry, I am not going to be responsible for house fires.
• Oils from towels and rags used to clean up spills may transfer spots to other articles of clothing. Do not wash your kitchen rags with clothing.
• As mentioned in the question both liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets may also leave spots.

Test Kitchen: Bagels

Heather says:

Bagel purists avert your eyes. I believe I’ll refer to this recipe as Quick and Dirty Bagels.” They get the job done, are much better than frozen, and do not require a whole lot of work, but I would never put them up against a genuine NY bagel. This recipe was originally designed for a bread machine. However, if anyone has been observing my recent run of luck, it should come as no surprise that my machine decided to call it quits about 3 minutes into the job.

Do not fret, I pulled out my stand mixer and completed the recipe.

Quick and Dirty Bagels

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 quarts boiling water
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 egg white

Place the water, 2 TBSP sugar, yeast, flour, and salt in your bread machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. Set on the dough setting.

If using a stand mixer, combine the above ingredients and knead with the dough hook for five minutes. Add a few drops of water if the dough won’t come together. The dough was fairly stiff. Cover with a slightly damp cloth and allow to rise for an hour.

Turn the dough out onto floured surface and divide into six equal portions.

There are a few ways to shape bagels, here are two.

• Roll into a cylinder about ten inches long, hold one end between your thumb and the base of your pinky finger. (Like signing the number four) wrap the rope around your fingers and join end to end, creating a loop around your hand. Use a little water to seal the seam if you’d like. Hold the joined edges together and roll the dough off your hand.

or

• Roll the dough into a ball, flatten gently, and poke your finger through the center. Gently twirl the dough to enlarge the opening.

Place on a lightly floured surface. Form the other five bagels, cover with a towel, and allow to rise for at least 15 minutes.

While the dough is rising heat 3qts of water and 3 TBSP sugar to a roiling boil.

Preheat the oven to 375F

Carefully place the bagel into the boiling water and turn after thirty seconds. Allow it too boil for an 30 additional seconds and then drain on a rack or clean towel. Place the bagels on a parchment lined baking sheet*, brush with the egg white (if you’d like garlic, onions, poppyseeds etc, now is the time to sprinkle them on), and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

*I originally tried the cornmeal sprinkled sheet and spent ten minutes prying them off.

Sweet and Savory: Carmelized Garlic Chicken

Heather says:

This dish is simple and very kid friendly, but is unlikely to recieve approval from either Weight Watchers™ or the Surgeon General.

Carmelized Garlic Chicken

• 1 stick butter
• 4 garlic cloves - minced or pressed
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 whole chicken - cut up

Heat the oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in a pan with the garlic over low heat.

Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish.

Add the brown sugar to the butter and garlic and increase the temperature to medium high.

Stir constantly, but gently until the butter and sugar begin to combine. Immediately turn off the burner and stir vigorously until you have a smooth sauce.

Pour over the chicken pieces. Do not worry about coating each piece perfectly, the sauce will thicken the moment it touches the cold chicken and will slide off if fiddled with.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes at 350°F or until the internal temperature reaches 180°F.

Enjoy.

I can see clearly now that the spots are gone

Another good comment:

I’ve always hated cleaning shower walls - they just seem so impossible to clean. And now we have a shower stall with clear doors that shows sports from our hard water in DAYS (even with squeegee-ing after every shower). And if I really want to get them off, I have to scrub them several times with Glass Plus.

Heather says:

Hard water can be a royal pain. After thoroughly cleaning the doors with a product such as CLR to remove all existing waterspots apply a coat of car wax and buff to a shine. I have heard of using Rain-X, but I have not personally tested this product indoors.

An alternative to car wax is lemon oil, but it will need to be reapplied more often.

Once the product has been applied and buffed to a shine a quick squeegee after showers is all it should take to keep your doors sparkling.

Good luck.

P.S. Try not to get any on the floor, things will get mighty slippery, otherwise.

« Previous Page — Next Page »